The Department of Homeland Security funding lapse is negatively affecting national security operations, and congressional Democrats are facing growing pressure to approve government funding amid the fallout.
DHS has operated without funding since Feb. 14, after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on reforms to immigration enforcement policies included in the funding package.
Two weeks into the shutdown, the United States launched major airstrikes against Iran, triggering the start of war and prompting new fears about security inside the U.S. borders, including at airports, random terrorist attacks carried out by Iranian regime supporters, and other types of significant violence.
The war abroad has heightened the likelihood of attacks inside the U.S., which falls under the DHS’s jurisdiction.
Earlier in March, the Washington Examiner reported that Democrats would not be swayed into funding the DHS based on the potential for retaliation from U.S.-based Iranian regime supporters. That sentiment went unchanged after a Texas man who sympathized with the regime carried out a mass shooting in downtown Austin a day after the U.S. attacked Iran.
Over the weekend, two men were arrested in New York City for attempting to bomb anti-Islam protesters outside Democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s residence. The two suspects, ages 18 and 19, were charged Monday with providing material support to ISIS and using a weapon of mass destruction.
Rep. Nicole Maliotakis (R-NY) responded to the attack with a renewed call for Senate Democrats and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to open the DHS as federal law enforcement and support staff continue to work.
“There are real threats against our homeland & NYC remains a top target. @NYCMayor must fully staff & fund our NYPD & Congress must reopen @DHSgov. On Thursday, only 4 Democrats joined @HouseGOP to fund the agency tasked with counterterrorism. This is not a game! cc: @SenSchumer,” Malliotakis wrote in a post on X on Sunday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) pushed Democrats during a floor speech Monday to abandon their holdout and prioritize national security.
It’s been three weeks and counting on Democrats’ second shutdown this fiscal year alone.
— Leader John Thune (@LeaderJohnThune) March 9, 2026
Tens of thousands of DHS employees are going without pay, and critical DHS priorities are going unfunded.
Will this be the week that Democrats actually get serious? pic.twitter.com/6K4u2xAmy4
Roughly 90% of DHS’s 260,000 employees are required to keep working during the shutdown, now in its fourth week. However, the DHS does not publicly disclose how many of those employees are showing up to work each day.
The White House estimated on Monday that approximately 100,000 workers are not being paid despite being required to show up for their shifts.
Over the weekend, Transportation Security Administration officers called out at high rates, not seen during previous shutdowns.
“As Radical Left Democrats drag the Department of Homeland Security shutdown into its 24th day, everyday Americans are paying the price,” the White House said in a statement Monday. “Now, as TSA officers work without paychecks for the third time in nearly six months, crippling staffing shortages and hourslong security lines are gripping airports as millions of families head out for spring break.”
As families and college students embark on spring break travel, security checkpoints at major U.S. airports have warned passengers of hourslong wait times.
The TSA shared a video on social media Sunday that showed airport security lines going through a parking garage. At Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport, the TSA wait time was nearly four hours.
Enough is enough.
— TSA (@TSA) March 8, 2026
The Democrat shutdown of DHS must end! https://t.co/AQULDHfWG3
Amid the standstill, Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) on Monday called for the Senate to “nuke the filibuster” as a way to get DHS funding to Trump’s desk.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said before the shutdown that holding up funding for the department in an effort to force Republicans to approve reforms to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would hurt non-immigration agencies, not ICE. ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection were heavily funded through the One Big, Beautiful Bill passed last summer.
“But it will hit FEMA, Coast Guard, TSA, and our Cybersecurity Agency,” Fetterman wrote in a post to X on Feb. 12. “As a Democrat, I can’t vote to shut down critical parts of our government.”
NOEM’S DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ICE BOUGHT THOUSANDS OF VEHICLES THAT OFFICERS CAN’T USE
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) maintained in an interview on NBC News over the weekend that his party’s demands had not changed since the shutdown began.
“Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the Presidency. They’ve made the affirmative decision that they’d rather shut down FEMA, shut down the Coast Guard, and shut down TSA, as opposed to getting ICE under control,” Jeffries told NBC News host Kirsten Welker.
